MyLittleOcean

[AnneO]

It's the one year anniversary of my first proper saltwater setup! This thread is intended to document my approach to the hobby in terms of equipment and husbandry, but also to capture and collate the amazing personalities, stories and characteristics of my tank inhabitants as they grow together into a mature ecosystem.

Some of my philosophy and goals:
- I always wanted a small-ish reef tank so I could really get closeup views of its inhabitants
- I want a reef tank where the sides look just as cool as the front with a lot of visual depth
- I want a tank where every inhabitant is happy in the community
- I will pay up for high quality equipment, but I really want the tank to be as low-tech, quiet and contained as possible

With under 3 years in the hobby I don't have an awful lot of experience to share but am very happy for questions / comments and hope you enjoy the content of this thread as much as I do!

 

[Billmone]

Small, but still cool set up. Size definitely doesn't take away from the impressiveness.

 

[AnneO]

Here is the list of all my equipment used in the tank plus a few comments on it. The pictures are in the post above.

I originally went to my trusted LFS and asked him how he would do a new reef setup that could support SPS and went 100% with his recommendations. Therefore I can't compare the equipment to anything else, as my previous setup was a sumpless all-in-one, hooded etc. so I didn't really have any equipment choices!

Red Sea Reefer 250 with the matching stand
I really like this tank although I would have loved a version with clear silicone instead of black even more. I find the glass does not scratch easily using my mag-float with the razor blade attachment and I think it has a very slight magnification effect that makes it look like there is no glass at all.
I removed the black backing and painted it blue before the tank was put in place as I prefer that look and had it on my last tank. In hindsight I should have gotten professional advice though on what paint is best (I used multiple layers of regular acrylic paint). There are one or two bits fraying where eg the flow pump cables hang over the edge and I had to put a sheet of cling film between the paint and the magnets holding my flow pumps to ensure the paint doesn't get damaged when I pry them off the glass. I don't think I could use a magnet cleaner on the back now if I wanted to, but that wouldn't work on the overflow box anyway and the razor-on-a-stick versions work fine for me.

Side table
This is a small simple cabinet where I did not attach the door and turned it to face the back wall. Its great for putting down food / tongs etc when working on the tank, it hides the vast majority of my cables and I have enough leeway to turn it to face me if I need to do work on the electrics. It keeps the electrical equipment a little bit further away from the water and in any case with the enlarged ATO reservoir in my cabinet there would not have been sufficient space for all the power packs, since they need breathing space between them to prevent overheating.

Lights (I will do a detailed post in future)
I use the Maxspect RazorX 200W lights and I really like them, although you cannot see them in the picture above. I have blu-tacked a white flexible sheet of plastic on the front side recently, the stuff that goes inside drawers to stop things moving around. With the lockdown I am sitting on the sofa A LOT more than usual and this low position meant I was kinda staring into the LEDs for extended periods every day when watching the tank. This is not intended to be permanent but I have noticed this small additional light diffusion is well-received by the lower areas of the tank - which does have large variations in PAR due to both the LEDs and the high rock-work.

Flow pumps (I will do a detailed post in future, related to rockwork)
I use the dual Maxspect Gyre xf330s and I am very happy with these. They definitely require a separate post as I use them differently than most with the vertical on-the-back setup. I admit I originally did this purely because of aesthetics, I will not EVER have anything on the sides of my tank since I want each side to look like the 'main' view! I have a regular wave on both sides that pushes forward from the top back of the tank, rolls down along the front glass and then gets sucked back to the bottom back of the tank. I planned my rockwork to 'diversify' this wave pattern, some outlets are slightly tilted and I also vary the intensity slightly throughout the day. It is probably also significant that I opted to use medium gravel, not the smallest most popular size and not sand. I did this because my pistol shrimp is a real construction maestro (post coming for sure!) and he was used to that gravel size and I didn't want to risk any reduction in architectural potential!, but it also limits the amount of stuff blowing around the tank with this pretty aggressive wave system.

In the Sump
I got my LFS to do the initial plumbing and sump setup for me as I have zero experience and didn't want any experiments with so much water!
We replaced the original tiny ATO container with a 30l (8g) nano cube that allows me to go nearly 2 weeks without topping up. It has a Tunze Osmolator 3155 controlling the water level. There is nothing special about the heater except it's the non-glass kind that will not shatter.

The plumbing was routed down the left side to the front of the tank allowing easy access right at the front of the sump for changing the filter socks. I use a small bag of carbon and a small bag of GFO at all times in the right cup (with another sock around it). The two horizontal pipes at the back are supported by a bracket so I even managed to securely put my Kamoer F4 dosing pump on there and it is far up enough to avoid salt creep.

The next compartment houses the Red Sea Reefer RSK300 skimmer which is pretty large for my humble system, but I don't mind skimming wet to ensure it works well and I have found it greatly aides oxygenation, which is important for smaller tanks where the top surface area to volume ratio is lower. In fact, the eagle-eyed will spot that I have an AIRSTONE in my sump! OMG! I added this when I was medicating the tank pretty heavily a few months back and as the tank was going back to normal I observed that everyone absolutely loves the extra oxygen. Fish that I sometimes saw 'babbling' (not gasping!) in the evening or when NOPOX had just been dosed were now never opening their mouth to breathe and so I decided to make it a permanent feature. I cut up a piece of plastic board that rests on the internal borders of the sump to catch the majority of the micro-bubbles, which do cause an amazing amount of salt creep as they pop. The (standard) bubble trap sponge before my return compartment works well enough and so I never get any annoying bubbles in my display from this.

Finally, the return compartment hosts the dosing outlet bracket and a Maxspect Turbine Duo (I went with all Maxspect here as it allows me to control things easily). One side is the return to the display and the other side has braking valve so that a portion of the water flows slowly through an Aqua Medic Helix max 9W UV sterilizer (category c = clears algae but probably not effective against pathogens like dinoflaggelates). That side just returns back to the skimmer compartment. I would note that the installation of the return pump is such that it actually hangs off the two output pipes and doesn't touch the bottom or sides of the sump. I think this was not intentional but my LFS guy was so surprised at how quiet the install was at the end (he has done similar ones for other people), so maybe a secret tip there! The skimmer and airstone are in fact the loudest pieces of equipment, which take the sound level from 40db (whispering) to 50db. The pyramid foam I placed against the back wall probably reduces that by 5db and particularly seems to take away the higher frequencies when the airstone's bubbles pop. I don't notice the difference in front of the tank but when I am in other rooms it is definitely quieter with the pyramid foam there.

 

[powers2001]

@AnneO looking great. I'm subscribed. I have a Reefer 250 too. We have Simmental cows, Switzerland's main breed.

 

[AnneO]

@AnneO looking great. I'm subscribed. I have a Reefer 250 too. We have Simmental cows, Switzerland's main breed.

Excellent powers they are all over here and there have even been petitions as to whether they should all be allowed to keep their horns! Hoping to start some livestock posts coming weekend. I am watching your thread now too and will read through it properly -- I also have 5 blue-green chromis that school very well!

 

[AnneO]

SOMEONE loves the fish tank even more than I do

 

[powers2001]

Excellent powers they are all over here and there have even been petitions as to whether they should all be allowed to keep their horns! Hoping to start some livestock posts coming weekend. I am watching your thread now too and will read through it properly -- I also have 5 blue-green chromis that school very well!

@AnneO well the horns status over here comes in 3 forms. Intact horns on the head of the animal, this is not a problem for Simmental because they are extremely docile. Dehorned where the animal had horns at some time but they were cruelly cut off for no reason whatsoever. Then lastly there's polled trait where the animal lacks the gene for horns and never grows them. We personally have horned and polled. The people over there who are petitioning, do they want to be able to dehorn or are they going to breed the horns off with the polled gene?

 

[AnneO]

@AnneO well the horns status over here comes in 3 forms. Intact horns on the head of the animal, this is not a problem for Simmental because they are extremely docile. Dehorned where the animal had horns at some time but they were cruelly cut off for no reason whatsoever. Then lastly there's polled trait where the animal lacks the gene for horns and never grows them. We personally have horned and polled. The people over there who are petitioning, do they want to be able to dehorn or are they going to breed the horns off with the polled gene?

They did a petition whether farmers should be paid extra if they leave the horns on the cows as that sometimes causes damage / extra costs, but is if course more natural. I think the petition did not get enough votes to pass, but I do see a with horns and some organic milk brands make a point of it that their cows get to keep theirs

 

[AnneO]

This is the full maintenance and husbandry schedule for my Red Sea Reefer 250. It keeps all my tank inhabitants happy and I don't find it too onerous.

Daily: Feed the fish!
I now feed twice a day as I have found this reduces aggression amongst the fish, particularly for Rocky the lawnmower blenny as the others appear to get jealous that he's got something to do all day and they don't. I noticed that Sonic the coral beauty angelfish (and the official tank terror), who is also very partial to algae, follows him around when he's bored/hungry and that stresses Rocky out. Feeding during the day keeps Sonic otherwise occupied for a while.
I feed small sized pellet food in the early afternoon and am looking to get an automatic feeder to do this maybe 3x in small portions during the 'high noon' lighting period once the Coronavirus lockdown ends here in Switzerland and I won't be around in the daytime.
In the evening I feed a variety of frozen food, which I thaw in tank water but do not strain. I feel that this helps feed the corals too and my use of No3Po4x and a small amount of GFO (in a bag, in a filter cup) means I always have very low nutrients.
I always include 1/4 to 1/2 cube of lobster eggs and once a week I baste this straight to the bottom of the tank rather than pour it in with the rest of the food. I do this so that more of it reaches the substrate and rocks where my mandarin fish can get at it. When I pour it in with the rest of the food the other fish (who also love lobster eggs) seem to pick off a large portion before the mandarins get a chance.

As needed: Clean the glass
I want my glass to be crystal clear so I tend to clean the three visible sides about three times a week. I leave algae to grow on the (painted) back and overflow box until I do my once-a-month display tank cleaning (see below). I get very little algae, so it doesn't really mess with the blue look.

Twice a week: Feed the LPS
At the start of the week I target feed my LPS including the sun corals with LPS pellets to ensure they get enough food besides what they happen to catch from the fish and SPS feedings.

Twice a week: Feed the SPS
Towards the end of the week I will heavily target feed my SPS corals. I usually prepare a mix of Coral Sprint, preserved zooplankton and preserved (brown) phytoplankton, or occasionally just feed one of these but more heavily.

Once a week: Feed the filter feeders
I feed a large amount of live (green) phytoplankton the day before I perform my weekly tank maintenance. Personally I see a good response from all corals, although apparently acropora cannot actually use these molecules as studies found they are still intact within the algae tissue rather than being broken down. The invertebrates, especially the featherdusters inc. bismaworms plus my secret tank favourite the black and white tunicates seem to enjoy this a lot. It does always create a green film on the glass, which clogs up the filter socks very quickly when I clean the glass, which is why I do it the day before the weekly maintenance. I turn down the skimmer for a few hours as the fresh phytoplankton makes it go nuts.

Tank maintenance:
I am too lazy to perform water changes every week and I think this is ok since my water parameters remain very stable. Generally I follow this schedule and test my water before starting to see the 'worst' readings of the week:

Week 1 - Clean the 3 visible sides of the glass. Change filter socks about an hour later, fill up top-up reservoir (c. 30 litres), make new RODI water for next week (80 litres). Manually dose Voogle EasyLife Maxicoral Coral A and Maxicoral Coral B 5ml each (works out at 60% of recommended strength as my corals are not grown out yet). I believe this is just trace elements so I might try amino acids too, which everyone raves about. But I also suppose there will already be a reasonable amount of those in the fatty-acid lobster-egg water.

Week 2 - Water change from sump (40 litres = 15%), using turkey baster to remove large detritus accumulations from the corners, blowing away detritus from return pump area and around heater. Clean the alkalinity outlet of the doser (not removing it, just with my fingers and in-sump water). Change filter socks, fill up top-up reservoir (leaves c.10 litres emergency RODI). Replace 5 Bactoballs. Hold fresh filter bag on return outlet in the display tank for the first minute after restarting the pump as a lot of crap gets dislodged in the pump during the basting process. Dose Voogle Easylife liquid filter medium (filter feeders seem to love this) at recommended strength. Make new bag of carbon (needs to soak for 24 hours so in that time the filter medium can do its thing without carbon as instructed). I turn down the skimmer for a few hours as the filter medium makes it go nuts.

Week 3 - Same as week 1

Week 4 - Water change from display (40 litres = 15%), using razor-on-a-stick to clean the back glass and overflow box. Use toothbrush to clean detritus off gyre netting that covers the outlets. Allow crap to settle briefly and then use a siphon to remove this and clean the gravel. Change filter socks, fill up top up reservoir (leaves c.10 litres emergency RODI). Replace Bactoballs. Refill from sump. Dose Voogle Easylife liquid filter medium (filter feeders seem to love this) at recommended strength, this time I just leave the carbon in, as its not super fresh. I turn down the skimmer for a few hours as the filter medium makes it go nuts.

Other dosing:
I dose Calcium, Alkalinity, Magnesium and No3Po4x via a doser to meet the tank needs. I always have a bag of carbon in a filter cup, which I change in Week 4 of my schedule, and a small bag of GFO. I find the GFO is extremely effective at Po4 removal so periodically I have to take it out to allow a bit of algae to build up for Rocky my lawnmower blenny. That happens about once a quarter and that is when I replace the GFO. I find that keeping phosphates too low with GFO not only makes the green algae disappear completely but (in combination with healthy No3 levels around 3-5ppm) can cause cyanobacteria to grow instead. The reason I don't rely purely on No3Po4x is because I feed quite heavily and it is more effective at reducing No3 than Po4, so Po4 can creep up over time. If you react by increasing the No3Po4 dose while No3 is already low then you get white slime forming in the sump and potentially even the display. That stuff really messes with the skimmer so you will have to clean it out if you experience that, to get it working again properly.


Equipment maintenance:
Skimmer - Once a quarter on a 'sump water change' day
Gyres - Once a quarter on a 'display water change' day
Return pump - Once a year on a 'sump water change' day and while I have it all disconnected I change the bulb on my UV steriliser too
I clean the equipment by soaking it in citric acid with water solution, then disassembling and scrubbing it with a toothbrush. I didn't have any issues with vinegar but I found I could make the solution stronger using powdered citric acid than the vinegar easily available to me here.
Overflow + box / return lines - I have never cleaned these but am thinking about some steel drain pipecleaners to get off the calcium buildups for the next pump maintenance session!

Here is a picture of my secret favourites the black and white tunicates to say thank you for making it through this long post!

 

[powers2001]

Awesome maintenance plan. Busy as a Bee !!!

 

[AnneO]

Awesome maintenance plan. Busy as a Bee !!!

Thanks powers

 

[powers2001]

SOMEONE loves the fish tank even more than I do

@AnneO I love this picture. Looks like Sonic has been kissing the front glass !!!

Dwarf angels from the genus Centropyge are my favorite genus of reef aquarium fish. I have kept a couple of Coral Beauties on different occasions very successfully, a Brazilian Flameback once that developed a swim bladder problem and died a few short months after I bought her, and a pair of pygmy cherub angels at the same time where I lost the larger of the two to a carpet surfing incident.